Bangladesh, four 'anti-Islam' bloggers sentenced

by Sumon Corraya

According to human rights activists, those arrested are the latest cultural and political victims of the clash between Islamic fundamentalists and the government. Under current law they face from 7 to 14 years in prison.

Dhaka
(AsiaNews) - A court in Dhaka
has sentenced four bloggers for having "insulted Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and other religions" through "offensive posts" on the internet. As explained by Judge Zahurul Haque,
the young people violated the Information and Communications Technology Act
and risk a sentence from 7 to 14
years in prison.

Arrested
in April last year, the bloggers
are Asif
Mohiuddin, Subrata Adhikari Shuvo, Moshiur Rahman Biblop and Rasel Parvez and declare themselves
atheists. At the time
of their arrest, the police claimed they had "ample evidence" and seized
computers, modems and external hard drives. However Jotyrmoy ​​Barua,
their lawyer says the allegations were
fabricated to frame the young people.

Bangladesh authorities have been monitoring all "anti-religious
activities" for months now, with a particular focus on blogs
that have become very popular places of debate. In fact, they are used in particular by lay
Shahbag activists, a movement that takes its name from a district of Dhaka, where it held its first peaceful demonstrations against the war crimes
committed by the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971. The secular nature of
Shahbag and the request not to use religion for
political purposes has attracted the
ire of supporters of the Islamist
party, which is targeting the bloggers to target the
government.

Tension mounted further following the murder of Asif Mohiuddin, one of the
leaders of the movement, stabbed
during a protest on January 14.